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• Travel T-PAX/UTS Newsletter Archives

Schedule for Web TPAX Server Maintenance

PPC will be performing regular scheduled maintenance on the Web-TPAX server the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month making Web-TPAX unavailable from 2000 until approximately 2200 (Central Time). Please ensure you are not logged into the Web-TPAX system during this time or you may lose any data you are working on when the maintenance begins.

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Financial Management for Temporary Duty (TDY) Travel Order

Published Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:00:16 CST

In the first 100 days of fiscal year 2012, more than 2,200 travel order settlements were paid to travelers where no obligation existed in the Finance and Procurement Desktop (FPD), resulting in a direct expenditure in the Core Accounting System.

ALCOAST 045/12, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FOR TEMPORARY DUTY (TDY) TRAVEL ORDER - ACTION ORDER ONE, provides procedures that travel Approving Officials (AOs) must follow to prevent unauthorized transactions in the Core Accounting System.

Update to OCONUS PCS Entry Approval Points

Published Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:00:16 CST

CG Base Honolulu was established on 11 January 2012. CG Base Honolulu replaces "PSSU Honolulu" as the Entry Approval Point for "All other Hawaii Units / American Samoa" as listed in Exhibit 1.H.3. of Military Assignments and Authorized Absences, COMDTINST M1000.8(series). Please use the PLAD "COGARD BASE HONOLULU HI" for entry approval messages.

Travel AO News - January 2012

Published Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:00:16 CST

Approving Officials,

Over the past several weeks the PPC travel audit team has noticed an increase with travelers claiming reimbursement for tuition and course fees with the Conference/Registration field in Web TPAX. Tuition and Course fees to attend regularly scheduled courses of instruction conducted at a Government or commercial training facility are not reimbursable travel expenses, these expenses are paid by other methods (e.g. Purchase Request, SF-182, etc.), not through the travel claim process. ALCGPSC 069/11 message provided guidance for conferences, seminar, and registration fees. Registration fees to attend a conference which is determined to be a training activity under 5 CFR 410.404 are reimbursable travel expenses. Any claimed reimbursement for tuition/course fees with the Conference/Registration field will be removed from the travelers claim when audited by PPC travel. As an AO, do not approve/submit the travel claim when these fees are being claimed.

As an AO you have a broad authority to determine when TDY travel is necessary to accomplish the unit's mission, authorize travel, obligate unit travel funds, approve trip arrangements, and authorize travel expenses incurred ICW that mission and IAW the JFTR/FTR. The Coast Guard received audit finding addressing our inability to appropriately record and report TDY obligations. Some inappropriate travel obligation practices caused misstatements on official financial reports. Some of the most common were: travel claims paid without a corresponding obligation, one set of travel orders for multiple travelers, one dollar estimated orders, and blanket orders issued for infrequent travel. These practices must stop immediately, see ALCOAST 029/12. A future release of Web TPAX will include a check-box for the AO to click stating they have verified the travel has been obligated in FPD. For PCS and orders issued from TQC/other agencies, it will be their responsibility to obligate prior to issuing the tono.

We have placed in the 3PM two guides to help with questions involving Invitational Travel Orders and Dependent Evacuations (http://www.uscg.mil/ppc/pppm/CHAP02.pdf). These types of orders are complex and if not done correctly may delay payment or having the traveler placed in debt. For Invitational travelers who need an airline ticket, the AO shall annotate the orders that CBA use is authorized and that SATO is used to make those arrangements. Anyone who is issued a set of Coast Guard orders and not in the Coast Guard should be directed to the Finance Centers website to sign up for Electronic Funds Transfer (https://www.fincen.uscg.mil/secure/enrollment_form.htm); otherwise a check will be issued further delaying the payment.

Members and employees who wish to claim expenses incurred while performing official business away from the permanent duty station but in the local area must use the Standard Form-1164 (Local Travel Claim) through Web TPAX or manually for reimbursement. The DD-1351-2 (Travel Voucher) should not be used. To regulate obligations, a 13 type TONO is NOT authorized for local travel claimed on an SF-1164 and an 11 type TONO will be issued for each period of local travel performed or by combining recurring trips on one claim, supplementals are not allowed to add additional expenses. As long as no per diem has been authorized, the SF-1164 should be prepared for official business travel in the local area. Travel orders are not required with the SF-1164. AOs shall verify that the travel has been obligated in FPD prior to approving the local travel claim.

When approving travel claims for members who attended Class "A" school, check to ensure members have selected deductible meals in the drop down menu in Web TPAX. This will pay the member the CONUS incidental portion of per diem, $5 per day (no meals). A future release of Web TPAX will include Essential Unit Messing (EUM) as a drop down selection.

PPC travel has seen an influx of travelers claiming reimbursement for expenses incurred by other travelers. IAW the Government Travel Charge Card Program, use of the GTCC for expenses for individuals other than the actual cardholder is prohibited and constitutes misuse. Most prevalent is the payment of the entire room rate by one traveler when lodging with other official travelers. IAW JFTR U4129, when official travelers share a room, each traveler is allocated the appropriate percentage of the room rate charged (e.g. 2 official travelers are each allocated 50% of the room cost; 3 official travelers are each allocated 33%). Each traveler must request that the lodging costs be split into the appropriate percentage; payment must be made by each traveler and documented on separate itemized lodging receipts. Other cases in which travelers claimed reimbursement for expenses incurred by other travelers include multiple rental vehicles, multiple parking spaces/valet parking and common carrier transportation tickets.

Official travelers within a group may use a single rental vehicle claimed by a single traveler as "authorized drivers" IAW The U.S. Government Rental Car Agreement.

Please note IAW JFTR App G, mission related expenses are not reimbursable as travel expenses including equipment, materials, pet care and hotel concierge.

For members receiving their PCS travel orders and requesting advances, advances will be paid no more than thirty (30) days before the member detaches from their PDS.

The Global Business Travel Association's National Travel Forum 2012 will take place in Phoenix, Arizona from June 5-7. The Coast Guard will not be hosting a separate tac-on session.

CWO3 JAY BENBOW
TRAVEL BRANCH CHIEF
COAST GUARD PAY & PERSONNEL CENTER

PCS Mileage (MALT) Rate Change 1 January 2012

Published Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:00:16 CST

Effective 1 January 2012, the MALT (monetary allowance in lieu of transportation) rate per authorized POC (privately owned conveyance) is $0.23 (twenty three cents) per mile. This rate is effective for all PCS travel that commences on or after 1 January 2012 (i.e., the initial travel is started).

TDY mileage rates are unchanged from 2011. They are:

• Car - $0.51
• Motorcycle - $0.48
• Airplane - $1.29

Use the Web-Based Version of TPAX

Published Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:00:16 CST

Per ALCOAST 565/11, the legacy/CITRIX TPAX connection is no longer available for use. Please use the Web-TPAX links to connect to Web-TPAX at https://ppcms-tpaxwb.main.ads.uscg.mil/. This is now the only way to submit electronic travel claims for payment. To access Web-TPAX without your Common Access Card (CAC), press the "ESC" (Escape) key on your keyboard when the option to choose a digital certificate is presented. This will allow you to key in your User ID (usually your employee ID) and password (the same as it was in Legacy/CITRIX TPAX). Passwords must be changed every 90 days. Passwords must be 9 characters in length and contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number and no special characters.

Online help and user guides for the Web-based version of TPAX are available at http://www.uscg.mil/ppc/webtpax/.